Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This thesis project departs from Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle by claiming that architecture temporarily supports a passive acceptance of the environment. Architecture has the ability to confront its own crisis of spectacle by offering a different illusion. This thesis project proposes to create an architectural device through which an illusion can occur that aids in altering the perception of reality and counter the illusion of spectacle described by Debord. The illusion to act as a model for this project will be the cinematic illusion. An architecture of cinematic illusion seeks to question how reality can be perceived through a focus on persistence of vision and suspension of disbelief.
The resulting design solution for this thesis presents a sequence of spaces representing the descriptions of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory and movements of Dante in Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. The spaces are integrated into the chosen site in Camden Town, London.
Recommended Citation
Klesseck, Kathryn, "Architecture of Illusion: an Investigation into Cinematic Deception in Camden Town, London" (2014). Architecture Theses. 104.
https://docs.rwu.edu/archthese/104
